Systems for controlling a set of satellites, often called a fleet of satellites when they are launched on one and the same orbit or on orbits sharing certain orbital parameters, are known.
An artificial satellite is an object manufactured by man, which is sent into space with the aid of a launcher and that gravitates around a planet or a natural satellite such as the moon. The velocity imposed by the rocket on the satellite allows it to keep itself practically indefinitely in space while describing an orbit around the celestial body. The latter orbit, defined as a function of the mission of the satellite, may take different shapes: heliosynchronous, geostationary, elliptical, circular, etc., and may be located at more or less high altitudes classified as low, medium, high or elliptical etc., orbit.
An artificial satellite consists of a payload, defined specifically for the mission that it must fulfil, and of a platform that is often standardised performing the support functions such as the provision of energy, propulsion, heat control, orientation maintenance and communications. The satellite is monitored by a ground control centre that sends instructions and gathers the data collected by virtue of a network of earth stations. In order to fulfil its mission, the satellite must keep itself on a reference orbit and orient its instruments precisely: work is necessary at regular intervals in order to correct the natural disruptions of the orbit that are generated, in the case of an earth satellite, by the irregularities of the gravity field, the influence of the sun and of the moon and the drag created by the atmosphere that subsists in low orbit, among others.
The duration of operation of a service provided by a set of satellites is linked to the mass of fuel that is loaded and its consumption.
A large part of the energy provided by this fuel loaded on board a satellite serves to maintain its orbit on a nominal trajectory and to orient its instruments.
One of the factors constraining the duration of a space mission is the use of resources that are loaded and are not renewable such as the fuel. This has such an impact that certain orbital solutions are practically inaccessible because of the excessive costs that they would represent in terms of fuel.